


Denouement

by CSIGurlie07



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/M, Guardiancorp, TLC, and a really nice moment between Lena and James, more coupley things, the aftermath of the gala
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-02
Updated: 2018-02-02
Packaged: 2019-03-12 16:13:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,106
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13550934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CSIGurlie07/pseuds/CSIGurlie07
Summary: Immediately following the events of the explosive conservancy gala, James gets a rare glimpse into his girlfriend's life, and gains a better understanding of what it means to be Lena Luthor. A canon-compliant tag for 3x12 "For Good"





	Denouement

**Author's Note:**

> And here is the second of my planned tags for this episode. Another quick and dirty, the errors are all mine. This is what I would have rather gotten instead of the Mon-el button. Or at least pieces of it, since I realize this is likely more time and set budget than they could accommodate. Just something to bring everything together and flesh out Lena and James' relationship. Hope you enjoy it!

James may have changed out of his armor, but he could still feel the weight of it pressing heavily on his shoulders as he watched Lena speak with her mother. Kara stood beside him, looking as uncomfortable as he felt. In that moment, James made his decision.

“I’m going to tell her,” he said softly. 

Kara glanced at him, her gaze hardening ever so slightly. After a long moment, her shoulders lifted in a silent sigh.

“That’s your choice,” she told him, and in her voice he heard the unspoken reminder that he also held a secret that wasn’t his to tell. He nodded his understanding just as a police officer stepped up to ask Kara some questions. Another soon arrived for him, and James did his best to play the clueless CEO until they cleared him to leave. By then, Lena was nowhere in sight.

The cop car with Edge inside had long since left the scene, as had the ambulance carrying Lillian Luthor. He doubted Lena had left, so with an oblique nod to Kara James set off in search of his girlfriend. He found her around the side of the building, leaning against a garden wall and gazing out across the rows of plants.

She stood alone with her arms wrapped around herself to ward off the night’s chill. With a smile, James closed the distance between them, peeling off his suit jacket as he did. Lena jumped when he laid the jacket across her bare shoulders, but relaxed into a thin smile when she recognized him.

“Hey,” she greeted.

“Hey. Everything okay?” He settled back against the wall next to her as she nodded. “Your thoughts looked a little heavy, from where I was standing.”

“It’s nothing.” When James simply waited, she gave a mirthless smile. “Nothing the best friend of Superman wants to hear, anyway.”

“What does that mean?”

Pushing away from the wall, Lena tilted her head back in silent irritation, then turned to face him. “It means I've just remembered that my entire family is back behind bars. Again.” She shrugged, quickly losing her fight. “I should be glad for it. It’s the right thing.”

“But they’re your family,” he supplied. Lena glanced away, eyes dark under heavy lashes. She chewed anxiously on her bottom lip, looking like she’d rather be anywhere but there. James straightened, gently taking her hands in his. “I won’t claim to understand your family, Lena, or how you feel about them. But I understand the pain of losing family.”

The corners of her mouth turned down, as she studiously avoided his gaze.

“I’m sorry they’re not the people you deserve to have in your life.”

That earned a huff of a barely-there laugh, and her trembling lips turned upwards in a small smile. “That’s what friends are for, right?”

James grinned. “That’s right. C’mere.” He opened his arms, and Lena stepped into them, wrapping her arms around his waist. When she sighed, her tension bled away, leaving her almost boneless against him as he hugged her. “How are you feeling?”

The sight of her convulsing on the balcony was still fresh in his mind, though it felt like it happened ages ago. Had it really been less than twenty four hours? In the long moments it took Lena to respond, James debated the value in forcing her to the hospital for additional care.

“My head hurts,” Lena mumbled unhappily into his chest. “And my stomach hurts. I want to go home.”

James smiled, squeezing her just a little bit tighter. “Are the police done with you.” She nodded against him. “Then let’s get you home.”

Guardian could wait, and wait it did as James checked in with Kara and let her know they were leaving. She promised she wouldn’t be there much longer either-- with a meaningful glance to James to confirm that the DEO was coming to retrieve the pieces of the Lexosuit strewn across the patio.

The ride back to Lena’s was quiet. Lena kept James’ coat, tugging the lapels over her plunging neckline as she stared sightlessly out the window. They said nothing as James parked and they rode the elevator together up to her penthouse suite. They’d barely taken a single step inside the dark apartment when Lena’s hand snapped around James’ wrist.

“Stop.”

He froze in an instant, responding to the edge in her voice and the way her entire body had locked tight at some unseen danger. “What is it?” he asked, keeping his voice low.

The shadow of her head bobbed towards the small table standing in her breakfast nook, and the vase of flowers sitting on top of it, silhouetted by the pale moonlight shining through the curtains behind it. 

“Those weren’t there this morning,” she murmured.

James scanned the room, but could discern nothing else in the dark. 

Lena reached for the lightswitch, only for James to intercept her fingers before they could make contact. “Don’t.” 

He turned them back into the hallway and shut the door again behind them. Lena didn’t fight him, but irritation glared balefully at him when he moved to explain himself. “We’re just going to stay out here all night?”

“No,” James countered. He pulled out his phone. “We’re going to call Alex, and ask her to do a sweep. And then we’ll decide what we’re going to do.”

Two hours and a full security inspection later revealed no bombs or other devices, and James could feel Lena bristling with irritation as Alex came emerged to give them a full rundown. 

“We didn’t find anything,” she confirmed. “The flowers are just flowers. They came with a note.”

She handed a small envelope to Lena, who took it without sparing it a glance. “Great,” Lena drawled. “I’m so glad we wasted everyone’s time.”

James refused to wilt under her glare, even as Alex stepped in to defend him.

“Oh, no. James made the right call,” Alex told her, earning a scoff. “Lena, you were literally poisoned less than twelve hours ago. Which just so happens to be enough time for Edge to have had something planted in your apartment as a fallback plan. We absolutely considered it a credible threat.”

Rolling her eyes, Lena shifted her weight, but bit back whatever retort she had primed and ready to go. Alex eyed her, but didn’t push it. “It’s clean,” she reiterated, “so you’re welcome to stay here. We’ll be out of your hair in a few minutes.”

Lena didn’t respond. James and Alex locked gazes over her head, sharing a meaningful look. James nodded, and Alex disappeared back into the apartment. Lena turned into him when he put a hand to small of her back, inhaling sharply as she came back to herself. 

“I’m sorry,” she said softly. “I shouldn’t have snapped. I’m just--”

“You’re tired.” He nodded in understanding. “You don’t have to apologize to me.”

He watched her carefully, taking in her tired blink, and the lack of any effort to move into the soon-to-be-vacated apartment. “Do you want to come home with me instead?”

“No,” she said quickly. The door opened, and Lena pressed against him to give Alex’s team room to exit. Alex paused on her way past, pressing a hand against Lena’s back. “Thank you, Alex.”

“Of course,” came the soft reply. “Call if you need anything, okay? Anything.” 

Lena nodded, and Alex took her leave. The door to Lena’s apartment remained open, beckoning them inside with a warm, inviting glow. With a shake of her head, she banished her gloom with a thin smile. “Shall we?”

He followed her inside. Wordlessly, Lena removed the jacket from her shoulders and passed it back to James. 

“Thank you.” When James moved to take it, Lena didn’t release it. Their eyes met. “Would you stay tonight? Just-- just to sleep,” she explained with a nervous laugh. “You don’t have to, I just--”

“Of course I will.”

A grateful smile shone at him, and Lena released his jacket fully. Instead of putting it back on, James hung it on the rack standing by the door. Lena crossed the to breakfast nook, drawing her fingers across the purple blooms. Her expression turned thoughtful as James crossed to join her. She glanced up, lifting the note Alex had given her, still tucked in its envelope. 

“My mother,” she said simply.

Her voice lacked inflection, communicating neither excitement nor disappointment. In the past weeks, James had learned some of the meaning in Lena’s expressive features, but tonight-- tonight she was light-years beyond his comprehension, it seemed. He took a deep breath. “Are you going to read it?”

“I don’t need to.” She set the envelope on the table, instead reaching up to start taking pins from her hair. Little by little her elegant twist started to sag, until she could run her fingers through the stiff strands. The scent of hairspray tickled James’ nose, trailed faintly by the scent of her perfume. When she turned towards the bedroom, James came with her, pulled by an invisible string. 

Her bedroom was wide and sparsely furnished, with a large bed on one side and a small dressing table sitting below a tall mirror on the other. 

“I’m sorry,” she said, “I don’t have anything for you to--”

James waved her off. “It’s fine, so long as you don’t mind boxers.” 

A smile answered him. “I’m just going to duck in,” she gestured to the bathroom. As she disappeared, James loosened his tie and slipped it off while he took a closer look around the room. He spotted no less than three books spread across her bed stand, the boudoir, and the deep sill cutting into the window. The latter turned out to be poetry--  _ Leaves of Grass _ . It came as a surprise, but the longer he considered it, the less it shocked him.

Unbuttoning his shirt, he turned back to the dressing table. He meant to scan the title of the book there, but his eye caught instead on the framed photo hanging on the wall next to the mirror. It was larger than a standard photo, and with a jolt James found he recognized it. It was a cover of CatCo Magazine. Beneath clear glass sat the familiar image of Lena in an olive green skirt and dark blouse, being escorted from L-Corp with her hands cuffed behind her back.

Shame flooded every inch of him. His hands stilled, leaving his shirt only half-unbuttoned as Lena stepped out of the bathroom and caught him staring. She paused only slightly, before padding closer, reaching across him to pluck a stick of lip balm from the table. 

“Lena, why…” His voice cracked. “Why?”

Her eyebrows shrugged tiredly as she rubbed chapstick across her lips. “It’s a reminder,” she said simply. She capped her balm and replaced it, letting her free hand gently touch his elbow. There was no malice in it, or snide I-told-you-so. 

“I look at it every day to remember how little it takes... to lose everything.”

James stared at her. She offered a wan smile, tugging him towards her so that she could work the rest of his buttons free. When he blinked, he saw her exhaustion compound tenfold. As she pulled his shirttails free, James lifted a hand to cup her cheek, pulling her gaze up to his. 

“I’m sorry,” he murmured. “Truly.”

“I forgive you,” Lena returned softly. She lifted onto her tiptoes and pressed a kiss to the corner of his lips. He caught her there, turning it into a proper kiss that lingered, soft and gentle.

When they parted, James didn’t let her draw away completely. “Lena…”

“I know.”

“I’m the Guardian.”

“I know.”

With a sigh, James relinquished any notion that he would ever slip anything past her. He briefly wondered how Kara managed it, and just as briefly considered maybe Kara hadn’t managed it after all. But, as he’d been reminded in the aftermath-- it wasn’t his secret to tell. 

The next morning he woke with curled up against him, her cheek pressed against his bare chest. In sleep her face was soft and unguarded, and in this room, in her bed, James knew he’d been granted a precious glimpse of the true Lena Luthor. Though the light streaming through the window was warm with the late morning hour, Lena showed no signs of waking, and James felt himself slipping back towards slumber himself. As he drifted off, he made a note to apologize to Kara too. If he’d trusted her last year, instead of fighting her, maybe he could have met Lena a whole lot sooner.


End file.
